How many fuzz pedals is too many? / & 'essential' fuzzes

[Iommic Pope]

Dude, sell all that shit, get an Ape Blaster. You don't need variety when you can just blow people's heads up.


Sorry...I'm somewhat utilitarian in my tastes. My principles tell me that the more gear and textures and blah, blah you can get, the better...but my financial situation tells me to find the one awesome thing and stick with it.

Semi agree. I think if I HAD to go down to one, that'd be the keeper. But Pharaoh set to low gain setting into the Ape Blaster gets even more low end and just so fucking heavy sounding. Then I kick the oath on at the end of the chain and try not to ejaculate.

Ooh, I still have a pharaoh on loan from a mate and I haven't tried that yet. Gonna suss that later. I have never tried not to ejaculate. Fuck it, jizz all over the place man.
Fuck yeah, D did good when he made that thing.

[D-Day]

Thanks you guys! It's certainly my own most 'essential fuzz'.

You can never have enough fuzzes. I mean I don't really rock more than one at a time but I never met a fuzz pedal that had nothing to offer me. I think for me the most essential is the Big Muff. That thing and so many clones and variants have always been my favorite.

[futuresailors]

I believe the correct answer is Gnomeratron.

[friendship]

I only really want a couple very good fuzz pedals. The ones I have that I never use because they overlap with other, better-sounding ones remain with me because I got them for very cheap so why the hell not keep it just in case?

But honestly, if money weren't an object, I'd have a stupid amount of fuzz pedals. All of them, probably.

[ChetMagongalo]

I feel like you'll know when you have too much, it's obviously very subjective. I know I got room for more!

[pigmaker]

love this thread, man.

too many doesn't exist

as far as essentials I guess it depends on preference

but I think you need
Muff
Face
Bender
Something glitchy
something that oscillates

I guess what you can afford without going into debt and what you need to make the music that you can hear in your head

yeah this is what i was going to post essentially. for rock stuff i like to have

a muff
a fuzzface
a tone bender or 2 because mkiii and mkiv are totally different than the predecessors
and optionally a maestro fuzztone sorta thing, if it makes sense for your stuff.

i consider the glitchy fuzzes a different thing altogether.
and then an overdrive pedal i consider totally different

not really that familiar with the tone machine, listening to a youtube video now and this thing sounds awesome and clipped all to hell.

[hbombgraphics]

yeah you gotta cover all the bases,
as far as actually putting a board together I kindof need two muff style pedals
I need one pre verb and pitch stuff and one post verb and pitch stuff

so discounting other pedals I need Fuzz/Pitch/Verb/Fuzz to get the sounds I like

[univalve]

we once had a similar thread with the 10 fuzzes to rule them all:
viewtopic.php?f=149&t=28877&p=510052#p510052

[coldbrightsunlight]

I love that it was 10. I've never had 10 fuzzes, I feel like a failure.

[julius_deane]

I could probably get away with one I really liked, if it was bass friendly and could be in the places at once on my board. :-D

Call it...
Bottomnipresent?
Droppelbanger?
Triple scoop?
Trilocat[i]on?
Unholy Trinity?

Anyway, my current thought is i need:
-Something with sustain and a bit of bite/decay add needed, mainly for solos and swells and ambience.
-something heavy but versatile dirt-wise for faux bass.
-something crazy/glitchy for special effects, noise.
-something dirty and distorting for shoegazey sounds.

My current thoughts/favs being:
AB-Synth; Fuck or the Mom-D muff Bronzetalon has; Shiva or tricked-out SM; RAT or Fuck.

But I want to try new things!

[Ro_S]

My own list, at least 1 each using:
2 transistors
3 transistors
4 transistors

at least 1 of each type transistor:
germanium
silicon
hybrid

at least 1 from each decade:
the 60s
the 70s
the 80s
the 90s
the 00s
the 10s

at least 1 fuzz with modulation
at least 1 octave fuzz
at least 1 IC based fuzz


The best is when you find pedals that meet criteria from multiple categories.

That's a very thorough approach.

A query though: do a clones and modified/variant circuit clone count as the original decade of the pedal it's cloning (or based on), or the decade it was produced?

[Ro_S]

we once had a similar thread with the 10 fuzzes to rule them all:
viewtopic.php?f=149&t=28877&p=510052#p510052

thanks! will check it out now

[AxAxSxS]

Thanks you guys! It's certainly my own most 'essential fuzz'.

You can never have enough fuzzes. I mean I don't really rock more than one at a time but I never met a fuzz pedal that had nothing to offer me. I think for me the most essential is the Big Muff. That thing and so many clones and variants have always been my favorite.

yeah man, you killed it with the Ape Blaster. I think we are blessed to live in a day and age where data is freely available and we can build upon what has allready been done knowing exactly what it is, how it works and make it better and more refined as well as combining classic circuits to maximize our sonic bliss.

I like that I have a lot of what has been referred to in this thread, and there's been a few suggestions that make me go, "yeah, I need to check that out"

I kinda think I'll be sticking with what I'm using but I'm always looking for something better, even if it's a slight difference.

[univalve]

we once had a similar thread with the 10 fuzzes to rule them all:
viewtopic.php?f=149&t=28877&p=510052#p510052

thanks! will check it out now

welcome!
funny part: my list still would be quite similar. Just some things (like favorite fuzz face would be now the black acid) would have been "upgraded".

[Eric!]

quote="PumpkinPieces"]

Fuzz pedal are like condoms, THEY ALWAYS BREAK AT THE WORST POSSIBLE TIME.

[/quote]

These many is too many quoteses.

Something big, woofy, and mean (tafm?)
Something that slices and sizzles and stings (octaves, gates, FINGERPRINT)
Something really fuckin weird (oscillationz? YAHsillationz!)